John Meacham’s book, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, is amazing. It’s a brilliant biography, of a great president, politician, an extremely complex personality and a multidimensional thinker.

Thomas Jefferson was a man who hated confrontation but still able to move men and collect and distribute ideas. He learned from his mistakes and through his understanding of power and human nature to prevail.

He was passionate about just about everything, including his family, women, science, books, architecture, horticulture, friends, Monticello, Paris and, most of all, America. Jefferson persisted over and over, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision—the creation, survival, and success of popular government in America.

The author has cleverly crafted the biography to allow the reader to see Jefferson’s world as Jefferson himself saw it and how he found a way to endure and succeed in the face of rife partisan division, economic doubt, and external threat.

John Meacham brilliantly illustrates Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic and likely the most successful in all our American history.

It has been said that Jefferson that he would most likely be diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. There’s a long list of famous people who fall in to the same category. See my earlier post Historic figures who showed autistic tendencies.

1 Comment on Biography on Thomas Jefferson: The art of Power

This certainly sounds like a different approach to biographical writing. Thanks for the post on your site. Barnes and Noble offer a preview of the content on their site for potential buyers too. I clicked on the link.